It is oftentimes desirable, and in many instances necessary, to identify particular articles in a group of articles. This can present a problem where the articles are repositioned during conveyance from a single line to row conveyance, for example. In addition, where the articles are emanating from a plurality of sources, the problem of identifying articles from a particular source after formation of the articles into rows for conveyance further complicates the problem.
Where the articles can be conveniently identified at the source, there is, of course, no problem unless the identification is later lost during conveyance of the article. It is not always convenient, or even practical, however, to mark an article at the source for later identification after conveyance. Such is the case, for example, in the manufacture of glass articles, such as glass bottles, where the glass is quite hot when it emanates from the glass forming molds. Such articles are commonly conveyed from the forming machine to a lehr belt for conveyance through the lehr in rows. It is at this point that identification and culling of defective bottles can be achieved. Where it is desirable that defective bottles emanating from a particular mold or molds be marked or otherwise identified, such marking has heretofore presented a problem that prior known systems have been unable to completely solve.